| The Dead Years Written by: Nicholas Thomson � 11.08.2002 The dead had risen and all hell was breaking loose throughout the world, the country and Serenity Falls was the epicentre of the entire disaster. It was ground zero. Jack and Nick were best friends since they were kids in Elementary School and had grown up together and were going through High School when the news broke that the dead were walking. At first nobody believed it, only those crazy kids who spent their lives watching videos and listening to conspiracy theories about the government were taking is seriously. But then when they started to see these rotting bodies walking for themselves, they believed it. The war against the dead had been raging for two months before Jack and Nick were forced to flee from their stronghold. They were barricaded in Nick�s home where all their supplies were and where they were safe with their family. But Nick�s parents and Jack�s older sister were killed when the dead finally broke through their barricades and stormed the house like flesh eating Swat teams. Nick�s father was first to die; he was shredded as a hoard of the living dead crushed him in their wake while the Nick�s mother and Jack�s sister would quickly fall victim to the disease. Jack and Nick managed to escape, taking the family car and speeding as far away as they could get. But it was not long before the car began to cough, splutter and then finally die. The fuel must have been siphoned by one of the many gangs that now tore up the streets of Serenity Falls. Desperate and without a mode of escape, the two young men ran for their lives as a few walking corpses crawling from the twisted metal of the buildings around them. Fresh meat was on offer. Luckily for them they found a seemingly sealing off building amidst the city block they were being closed in on. Scrambling over the chain link fence like panicking criminals being pursued, the two boys found themselves within a gang compound. They had heard of these gangs on the news in the early days of the invasion and then by hearsay as the situation worsened and communication networks were shut down. As they had thought, the gang was comprised of a couple of dozen minions led by one man, the big cheese, the head honcho, the meanest of them all. Challenged at first, the boys acted on survival instinct and without threatening the leader of the gang, managed to negotiate sanctuary for the time being. During their sanctuary stay they were near interrogated by the rabble and were lucky enough to pass themselves off as High School drop outs who were frequently in trouble with the law � this gang�s sort of people. An unfortunate entrance had turned into a home of sorts � there was no comfort or love from family members � but they were at least safe, for now. At just seventeen years old, both Jack and Nick had lost everything they previously had. Nick had lost his home, his parents and his life � he now owned nothing in the world. Jack had lost his possessions, his home and his family, but this was nothing new. When the dead invaded Nick�s home where they were holed up, it was Jack�s sister that he lost. His real mother was already dead. It was still recent in Jack�s mind. She had taken part in a bus trip to the Serenity Falls prison to visit Jack�s father one last time before she and her two offspring were to flee the city. However, the bus arrived at a prison under the control of the prisoners. He never saw his mother again. Although Jack didn�t see his father as a particularly bad man, he remained at a distance from him when he was free and he began to feel that he was alone. Jack felt he had to fend for himself and so basically disowned his father and replaced him with an empty hole. Jack�s father was just someone he was related to. His father was trapped inside the Serenity Falls Prison � it couldn�t get any worse for Jack so he thought to himself of lonely evenings buried in a darkened corner of the gang�s hideout. But the moaning of walking corpses surrounding him kept pushing his life�s past history to the back of his mind and the immediate situation to the fore. Surrounded by these criminals who were free and could do anything they wanted to was starting to sound not so bad to Jack. But he thought about his father�s ways, how he robbed banks or stole cars to �provide� when Jack was just a kid. For the moment at least, he was able to subdue the feeling to just say, �fuck it� to everything and just turn bad. * * * * * It was another stormy night in Serenity Falls, the heaven�s had been open for days now and a torrential downpour was flooding throughout the empty streets, only occupied by a few, soaking wet corpses. Thunder clattered as lightning flashed madly in the sky. The gang was beginning to fall asleep, but some just lay about half-awake and drooling like they always seemed to do. Jack was sat hunched over in his corner again, his head burrowed into his knees as he tightly held onto his legs, which were wrapped close to his body. He was desperately trying to keep warm. �How you holding up Jack?� asked Nick as he walked over and sat down next to his life-long friend. �Cold,� replied Jack. �Me too.� The pair sat huddled together for a moment without saying anything. �Where do you think we should go from here?� asked Nick. �What do you mean?� �Well we can�t stay around here, can we?� �Why not?� asked Jack who was beginning to get used to his new surroundings. This was just another chapter in his ever-turbulent and ever-changing life. �What? You mean you want to stay here?� �Well where the fuck else are we going to go now? Huh? Do you know somewhere and just ain�t telling me?� �No, I mean, don�t you think these guys are dangerous?� whispered Nick. �Dangerous? Everyone�s dangerous these days! Besides, those walking corpses outside are far worse than these guys in here are. I�d rather stay here with this lot than risk death trying to find somewhere soft and fluffy to sit this thing out.� Nick sat back for a moment to digest what his friend was saying. Nick was cautious around these men they had suddenly been stuck with, keeping his guard up but keeping his false identity in the forefront as a fa�ade to survive. �But these guys are animals. They do all sorts of bad shit!� said Nick. �Oh come on, half these guys were white-collar workers before the dead rose. Hell! That guy over there was a banker, that one was an accountant and that one sold stocks!� replied Jack as he pointed around the room. �How do you know they were what they said they were?� �That girl over there told me,� said Jack, again pointing. It was hardly necessary to point to the girl in question; she stood out like a sore thumb. �Who�s that?� asked Nick. �Said her name�s Lucy.� �Lucy huh? What�s she doing here? She doesn�t look like the sort to be hanging around with these guys.� �Looked in the mirror lately, Nick? Neither are we.� �Right.� �Go over and talk to her man, find out why she�s here. Hey, she�s not a bad looker you know.� Jack smiled as he nudged Nick to move and go over to talk to the girl across the room from him. Nick sighed as he scrambled to his feet before stepping carefully through the dimly lit and cluttered room towards Lucy. Stopping just in front of her for a moment thinking of how to introduce himself. He felt so stupid, it was like he was at a school dance or something, but instead he was surrounded by the living dead, trapped in a decaying building somewhere in the middle of the city. �I know what you�re thinking bub and you�re not getting near me,� she snapped, her head still lowered to the ground as it had been before Nick came over. �What?� �I know what you want, but you ain�t getting it. Go jack off in the corner with your boyfriend there!� �What?� �Stop playing stupid with me mister,� said Lucy as she raised her head. �I know you want to fuck me six ways from Sunday�� She suddenly saw Nick�s innocent face and realised he wasn�t the hardened white collar worker she thought he might have been, having only noticed him in the shadows since he�d arrived a few days beforehand. �I don�t want that, I came over to talk to you is all,� said Nick. Lucy paused for a moment and stared right into Nick�s eyes. He looked like a goofy sort of nice guy in a better light. She had judged him wrongly. �Alright then, sit down.� Nick edged nearer her, still a little shocked from her initial response, before relaxing to sit down next to her. �So what�s your name then huh?� asked Lucy. �Nick.� �Hi then Nick. How the hell did you end up here?� �How did I end up here?� �Yeah that�s what I said.� �Well, I was hiding with my parents and Jack, he�s the guy over there�� �Yeah I got that already.� �Oh, um�well anyway we were hiding out in my house which we�d barricaded, but it wasn�t good enough.� �So what happened?� asked Lucy, she was sensing tragedy, but still continued her probing questioning. Nick paused for a moment, reliving the whole terrifying ordeal. �Well um, they got inside the house killed my father and then my mother and Jack�s foster mom before coming after us.� Lucy sat there shocked to the core for a moment. She had been living rough with this rabble of, in actuality, gang wannabes and frustrated bankers, for so long now that the pain and suffering people were going through somewhere out there had evaded her. Even her story was a mere distant memory to her now. She was being conditioned into the ways of the gang to stay alive and untouched. She had to keep a tough and fighting exterior, clutching to a knife she swiped weeks beforehand for protection. They rabble believed it to, she had even used the same story Jack and Nick had used. To the gang she was a bad seed, expelled from every school due to reasons ranging from arson to physically assaulting her teachers � she�d made it so believable that she was becoming a respected member of the group. Lucy couldn�t believe it, but these once smart men had turned into brain dead primates within a short time. It was incredible what a force of the living dead could do to people. �I, I�m sorry�I didn�t know�� �It�s okay, you didn�t know. Don�t worry�� said Nick as the pain of those horrifying moments back at his once happy home came flooding back. A lump formed in his throat as he saw the images of first his father and then his mother being eaten alive by a hoard of the living dead that spewed in from every direction, swamping them in mere moments. His head crippled under the terror and trembling began to take over his body, shooting down his arms, down his spine and throughout his legs. As tears began to form in his eyes to blur his vision, Lucy looked up from the floor she was staring at and looked at Nick. Her face sank further as she witnessed real human emotion for the first time in over a month. Suddenly her old self came flooding back, that old self of the nice girl next door. �My God, Nick�� She outstretched her hand and took hold of Nick�s to try and calm him down, but acknowledging that there is something to cry about sometimes makes it flood in further, and for Nick this was the case. His hands were now shaking wildly as his eyes glazed over, the images of his parent�s death repeating over and over and over. �Come with me,� said Lucy quickly. She pulled on Nick�s hand to pull him up to his feet, she had to get him out of this room and to somewhere more private so he could let go. Apparent hard asses don�t cry, and if Nick was to survive using his lie of being a problem child, she would have to get him out of the room where some of the gang lay. They may have been asleep, but in this gang you never did know. Nick followed slowly as he passed Jack who was now fast asleep, presumably having passed out through exhaustion, but picked up his pace as he looked around the room, realising what Lucy had already thought. He shook his head and kept up the pace to stay beside Lucy. As the walked they soon disappeared into darkness as they proceeded down a short corridor that connected the room to the rest of the building. At the end stood a solid metal door beside, which was a rusting staircase that led up to the roof so it seemed. Lucy guided Nick gently by his hand up the stairs. �Be quiet,� she whispered as she turned around to look at him. On one of the higher floors was where the leader of the gang would sleep and he didn�t care for his minions to be creeping around like Nick and Lucy were now doing. Nick complied and crept up the stairs behind Lucy until they finally reached the top where stood another solid metal door. She carefully opened it to a point where she knew from experience that it would start to squeak. The pair squeezed through the small gap before Lucy quietly closed the door behind them. They were now on the roof of the building. The randomly placed howls of the undead on the streets below whirled around them, sending chills up and down their spines as a cool breeze flooded across their skin. This must have been somewhere that Lucy came frequently over the past weeks that she had been cooped up with the gang sleeping in the floors below, a place to escape to when she needed time to herself to just let go. She led Nick over to a spot, which must have been her place to sit when she came up to the roof. �Sit down here,� said Lucy gently. Nick complied and as he made himself comfortable, Lucy sat down beside him. She took hold of his hand once again; it was like a novelty, to hold someone�s hand affectionately. She hadn�t done so for so long now that she feared she had turned into a robot, but as she felt a chill rush through her as she gripped Nick�s trembled hand, she knew she was still the same old Lucy as she�d always been. Flicking her tangled long hair behind her shoulders so she could get a clear look at Nick, she felt her chest tighten, her heart pumping a little slower and for a brief moment time stopped for her. �So, you come up here often then?� asked Nick as he sighed to try and push back the images crushing his brain. �I like to come up here yeah, mostly at night. The stars are out and everything�s quiet, those lot down there are crashed out and those, things, down there on the streets are less active too.� �It�s nice up here,� smiled Nick as he looked over to Lucy who was still transfixed on Nick�s tired face. Lucy smiled as she saw Nick�s face dead on, looking back at hers. For a moment she shied away, but quickly returned her eyes to him. She felt kind of silly; it was like she was back in school again. Like Nick, she was young, nearly seventeen, but not quite. She looked a little older, but only due to her tired face and tangled hair, but despite that she was still a pretty girl, obviously a stunning presence before. �How�d you end up here with this lot then?� asked Nick. Lucy looked away; she couldn�t associate her story with Nick�s strikingly youthful yet rugged face. �It�s a long story�� �Well I�m not going anywhere,� he said as he let his trembles ease off a little, he was no longer in the spotlight so to speak now. �I used to live in the suburbs with my family, just like everyone else on my street, but then everything crumbled. Those things appeared and everything began to fall into chaos.� She was still holding Nick�s hand, but as she continued her story, Nick took a more comforting hold of hers with his free left hand. She paused, appreciating the physical contact. �One day my mom never came home, she had gone out to get supplies with my father, but they got separated in a riot in the supermarket. My dad came home hoping she had managed to escape the crowds, but she wasn�t there. We called the cops, but they were no use, we ended up having to go out and look for her in the city where she had disappeared. It was me, my brother and my dad all looking for her and we couldn�t find her. She was gone.� Nick gripped her hand tighter as he could feel her tearing up inside. �Then things got worse, those things were everywhere and we were having to leave our home behind. We were going to try and get out of Maine, but there were road blocks and containment squads all over the place keeping us trapped in the city. Every way we tried to escape we were caught and told to turn back. We ended up in one of those rescue stations, the one they had set up at my High School.� �Which High School did you go to?� asked Nick, like it mattered, but he just wanted to know for some unknown reason. �St. John�s High,� she replied. �Oh, I remember hearing that had been turned into a rescue station. We were going to head there, all of us, if things got too hairy, but things never go to plan I guess,� sighed Nick. He now let Lucy continue her story. �Anyway, we got to the rescue station, it was a shambles, people were everywhere screaming for their lost loved ones or from the pain of being bitten or shot or whatever. There was death everywhere and the bodies were getting thrown into the cellar! It was mayhem. Those things eventually broke in and we all got separated. I know my brother is dead for sure, but I don�t know about my dad, I hope he�s okay, wherever he is.� �How do you know? You�re brother could be okay�� �No, he�s gone for sure. I saw him walking the streets last week, just down there,� murmured Lucy as she weakly pointing in the general direction of the street in question. �I�m sorry,� said Nick, his face stricken with the horror of it all. It was insane � everything was destroyed. For a moment they sat there quietly, both of them reliving their stories, their horror. Then Lucy started to cry. Curling up into a ball, she began to let go and succumb to the urge to cry she had been craving for a few days now, she hadn�t been able to escape someone�s eye even for a minute. She couldn�t always get onto the roof to stay by herself for a while. �Lucy�� said Nick softly. He took away his right hand and placed it around Lucy�s shoulder to pull her in closer to him. She complied to the gesture and shuffled herself right up to Nick, her new found friend amidst the chaos. �Let it out,� whispered Nick as he stroked her hair. As she relaxed herself a little, she laid her head against Nick�s warm chest and began to sob; clutching on to the young man�s body like there was no tomorrow. �Let it out, it�s okay, it�s just you and me here�� said Nick reassuringly. Lucy began to cry deeper and started to shake, but she felt so good for being able to do so, for the first time in weeks she had been able to let go and connect with someone. She was struck down in awe in her mind, but on the outside she was uncontrollably weeping. For a moment, despite all the things that had gone so dreadfully wrong and all the shit she�d had to wade through over the past month or so, she felt perfect. She couldn�t have been happier. She now had Nick. By the early afternoon, the gang had managed to crawl from their makeshift beds and go about their daily business, thinking of places to loot for food and water or for useless trinkets of an era passed. Most of them had disappeared from the building in the vans that were parked outside in the fenced off parking lot in search of their treasures, but some were still creeping around the building, feeling a little freedom as their leader had gone out on the hunt for the day. In a corner that was on a raised platform of sorts, Lucy and Nick slept peacefully, surrounded by empty boxes and random junk, hidden away from the prying eyes of anyone else in the building. Lucy suddenly awoke, her eyes immediately meeting with the sight of Nick sleeping next to her. She smiled and instead of the usual dread for what lay ahead of her that day, she felt at ease. Nick was still fast asleep and resting peacefully, Lucy didn�t want to leave his side, but she had to get up and perform the necessary. She crept out gently from the makeshift bed under which she had spent the night, and most likely the rest to come, with Nick. She didn�t want to wake as she wanted to come back and rest beside him again. Climbing down from the raised laptop by a short ladder she had pulled up so no wandering gang members could come across them together the night before, she quickly dashed across the room, down the main corridor and into the toilets, locking herself into one of the cubicles. Glancing all around her to just make sure, even under the doors of the other stalls, she sighed relief and proceeded to sit down. It was rare to be able to come into the toilets and be alone, although she had managed to secure a bad ass bitch image with the others; she was still weary of some. Suddenly she heard a slight creaking noise, but everything was quiet when she started to listen. She figured her mind was playing tricks on her. Relaxing once again, she placed her head in her hands and drifted off to a place somewhere else, a place where Nick was beside her. Before she knew it she was drifting off to sleep again. The door to the toilets opened slowly and quietly as someone stepped inside before closing and locking it. The footsteps were quiet and cautious before the figure crouched down to check along the gaps at the bottom of the stalls. The shadowy man saw one pair of legs. Creeping over to the stall in which Lucy was now asleep in from emotional exhaustion, the figure got down on their knees and peered under the door to get a closer look. They saw it was Lucy. The figure stood again and removed a screwdriver from their pocket before inserting the head into the screws surrounding the locks. Quickly, the lock was removed and the man silently pushed the door open. The shady man grinned as he saw Lucy sat on the toilet seemingly passed out, her trousers and panties around her ankles. Slithering in closer to her to check she was awake, the man got himself a good look all over her young body before untying his belt and unzipping. Slowly, he tipped Lucy�s head back and put her back against the tiled wall before spreading her legs apart and sliding her towards him. As he became more excited and played rougher and just before he could start enjoying himself, Lucy awoke. She awoke and pushed the man away from her quickly, catching him by surprise. He slipped on the damp floor and this gave Lucy enough time to pull her knife from her trouser pocket. She hoisted her jeans back on quickly and leaped onto the man, covering his mouth with her hand. Like she had been for over a month, she was on survival instincts and placed the knife by the man�s crotch. �How do you like this huh? Do you like it?� she growled. The man�s eyes were wide, but he was still enjoying the whole event. In disgust at him still enjoying the experience, Lucy quickly slid the knife down further and took a fast slice at him. The man gasped as he felt the blade cut into him. Lucy got up and fastened her jeans before kicking the trembling man in the side, but before she left, so as to retain the hard bitch image she relied on to stay alive in this gang, she placed her foot on the man�s neck, squeezing it hard as a warning. �Next time�� she said. �Well there won�t be a next time, got that?� The man nodded nervously as he could feel a steady flow of blood seeping out and onto the floor. As Lucy left the bathroom the man sat up and stared down as a large cut running across his scrotum and into his thigh, he gasped in fear and began to desperately try to stop the bleeding. Returning to her bed, pulling the ladder back up onto the platform with her, Lucy placed some food and water she had collected from one of the boxes of goodies around the building next to Nick. Slowly she climbed back under the grubby sheet and wrapped herself around his young body. She sighed and pushed her recent escape to the back of her mind; from now on she would make sure Nick was always by her side. By late afternoon, the building was again heaving with the sounds of the gang. On the platform, Lucy lay sleeping while Jake and Nick were sitting together eating. �How�s the food today?� asked Nick. �Same as always,� replied Jake miserably. Nick saw that the conversation wasn�t going anywhere and so decided to sit quietly for a few moments before moving away for a stroll around the building. The building was old and had obviously been converted several times as different architectural styles adorned the whole construction. At one time it had been a public meeting house and then became a factory before being converted into a low-rent apartment block. But as it stood at that moment, Nick could see that it was again an empty building, no doubt waiting for another contractor to come along, tear it all up and change it into something else. Or maybe it would just sit and rot like the living dead outside before being torn down. If only they could knock down those zombies as easy thought Nick as he continued to walk around and proceed into the main corridor. The sounds of the leader and his entourage could be heard echoing down the corridor, laughing and swearing, crude jokes bellowing out among other things. Nick shook his head slowly and then turned towards the toilets. He entered quietly, but as he came into the tiled room, he saw a shadowy figure standing amidst the gloom and grimy, once white, tiling clutching blood soaked rags. His face was pale and he wavered from side to side as he pressed down hard on his crotch where the blood seemed to be coming from. �My God! What the hell happened to you?� said Nick shocked. The man suddenly turned to face Nick, having not noticed he had entered. �Mind your own fucking business kid and get the fuck out!� growled the man. �Who the hell did that to you?� �Do I need to repeat myself punk? Get the fuck out you pervert!� Nick didn�t need to be ordered again and he left quickly. He still couldn�t quite get his head around it. These men were previously bankers and pillars of the community they had now left behind. It was bizarre how normal people, no doubt suburban dwellers who had families, a dog and a mortgage could become gang members who went out into the streets day after day killing zombies for the fun of it, looting stores for useless goods when they should be getting as much food and water as possible. But that seemed to be left up to the more sensible members of the gang, those who seemed to be like Jake was at that moment. As Nick walked back to the room in which he now lived he couldn�t help but think about how Jake was changing before his eyes. Jake had suffered a hard life for many years, but now all of a sudden he was turning bad, he didn�t mind living with these criminals and white collar barrel scrapings. Nick was worried about his friend, they�d known each other for so long and this was so sudden, or had it been happening for a long time and it was only just now that it was coming out � in the middle of the living dead invasion? Thought Nick. He turned the corner and entered the musty room, immediately walking over to the platform where Lucy was sleeping. He climbed the ladder and pulled it back up again, sealing the two of them off from the others. As he made himself comfortable again, he looked over at Jake who was standing in the opposite corner. Jake just stared for a moment, his eyes seemingly dead to the world, this wasn�t Jake, or at least it wasn�t the Jake who was once known by Nick. Slowly, the days and then weeks began to pass by and slowly Jake and Nick were being forced to tag along with the others to scour for the necessaries while the rest looted and caused havoc, searching far and wide for some entertainment. On their trips out, Jake and Nick began to talk less and less and then eventually not at all. Jake was immersing himself with the rest of the group and was living up to the false image he had created to remain alive with the gang who were, at the time, his only way of survival. Nick was detached from the entire group, except of course, for Lucy who was also distant from everybody else. The pair of them were misfits and didn�t belong in the group and as Nick left the Lucy behind again for another trip out, he couldn�t help but think this gang would bring about his demise. He had told Lucy to stay on the platform and to keep the ladder up. If she needed to get down for anything, she was not to go until Nick got back � his orders, but Lucy wasn�t planning on moving. The ordeal from a couple of weeks before in the toilets was enough to chill her blood still, but at least she had gotten her own back on the man. He was now lying in his makeshift bed dying of blood poisoning. The rags he was using as he panicked were filthy and God only knows what else got into his bloodstream as he frantically tried to stop the bleeding. Lucy couldn�t help but feel a sense of glee, but it was still assault that she had inflicted on him. She thought about this for days, but by the end of it she realised that no matter how nice he used to be in his previous life with his wife and kids no doubt, he was now a criminal who tried to rape her. He had tried to hurt her and now he was paying the price for it and as she soon realised, it had increased her prestige so to speak, amongst the group. They weren�t about to try anything with her if they stood a chance of ending up like the shadowy figure who slowly died before Lucy�s very eyes within minutes of Nick leaving the building that day. * * * * * Serenity Falls was dead to the world. It had been taken over, if there were any survivors out there, they were hiding from exactly the sort of people Nick was trapped with. If he was going to find anyway to survive, he would have to escape this gang he had ended up being dragged into. A convoy of three vans toured the streets of the city, the crawled along the central shopping district like they were a presidential motorcade. But there were no crowds, there was no cheering, just the wheezing groans of the undead that slowly began to squirm from the shops that had already been broken into. Then, the vans ground to a halt and out leapt their leader from the first van. Raising his gun in the air, he fired one shot and screamed at the top of his voice. �Let�s go shopping kids!� And like a crazed freak, he ran towards the nearest department store and shattered the glass with a bin that lay on the sidewalk, the contents long since scattered and blown away. The alarm sounded, but there were no cops anymore, there was no law and order, it was every man for himself. As the doors opened on the trio of vans, the looters leapt onto the streets and ran into the streets in every direction, attracting attention from the dead at every turn, every alleyway and every store they ran by or through. Nick stepped from the van; he could sense the vibe, the vibe of freedom. He could do anything he wanted to do. It was infectious. With a small grin on his face he ran towards a store and broke in. He immediately went on the look for food and water. It was a general store; it contained everything near enough. As he looked around the store, he listened for the sound of the dead, but so far he heard not a peep from within. He had made sure they wouldn�t access the store either. He broke in through the door, not the main window that drops to the ground. That way he could block the door and the dead would stay outside and no doubt remain attracted to the sounds of other looters. Grabbing a backpack that hung from a display rack of other bags, Nick unzipped it and proceeded over to the food isle. He took as much food and water as he could pack into the sizeable bag before returning to the front of the store. There were still no zombies outside his store; this was going well he thought, perhaps too well. So far, that day had not been too bad, and as he began to get excited by the prospect of taking anything he wanted for once instead of having to buy things, he soon began to feel he was drowning in the menace of the gang. But he figured he could get away with getting some items that might help in his escape and maybe make his and Lucy�s life a little bit more pleasant. Checking a sign that hung from the ceiling, he proceeded to grab another backpack, this one being a little smaller, and run up the nearby stairs so that he was now on the first floor. He glanced around as he reached the top of the steps just to check the coast was clear. Fortunately it was and so he continued. The toiletry isle provided him with some trinkets of his past life when he could smell good and be clean. He took a bottle of shampoo and deodorants for himself and Lucy before getting the other necessaries from the same isle. Clothes were the next stop. He�d been wearing the same clothes since he fled from his barricaded house. He took underwear, trousers, shirts and socks for both him and Lucy, it was like Christmas, and they were going to appreciate these items so much. Nick quickly finished his shopping spree and then ran back downstairs, there was no telling when the gang might decide they suddenly wanted to leave. Again fortunately, the vans were there still and the streets were still sparsely populated with the dead. As Nick glanced around the store one last time before leaving, his eye was caught by the jewellery. He thought to himself for a brief moment and then dashed over to the shelving. Everything was there, gold and silver, rings, bracelets, necklaces, you name it they had it there in front of Nick for the taking. He scanned the area in front of him and eventually came across a necklace. It was a silver chain on which hung a silver heart shape, Nick plucked it from the shelved and put it into his pocket. Then he saw a pair of rings. They were designed for a man and a woman to share, to show their love to one another. Nick smiled as he picked them up and written on the outside of both of them was the word �Forever�. Having spent the past weeks with Lucy, it was exactly how he felt and how he saw their lives together. Even in a world of horror he was able to find beauty. Again he shoved the trinkets into his pocket. His shopping trip was over now and so he grabbed the two bags he had packed full of goods and proceeded to exit the store, closing the door behind him, just in case he was to come back on another shopping trip. He didn�t think the living dead were capable of opening doors, he only knew them to crash through them if food was on the other side. The store would be safe without him there. He ran over to the van he had ridden in, opened the rear doors and threw his bags inside. As he pulled his head out from the rear of the van, he saw a flood of the others coming back with their lootings. �Get your skates on kid, we�re going,� came the voice of the leader of the gang. As far as Nick could figure, the leader must have been a frustrated office worker beforehand, his hairline was receding and his neck looked about as thick as a pencil. Nick complied and hopped inside the van as the rest of the looters came back and entered the vans. The drivers piled in and started the engines before taking of at speed, remaining in the same motorcade format. At the speed they were going, it was like somebody had shot the president. * * * * * They arrived back at the gang�s compound in one piece. About a block away it had gotten a little hairy as the streets were bustling with walking corpses, all of whom were staggering in the direction of the compound, but nobody seemed to care too much about that. As the looters all entered the building, they split up and went their separate ways to marvel at their stolen goods. Nick immediately made his way towards Lucy as Jack was again sitting in the dark shadows of the opposite corner, staring blankly at the raised platform on which Lucy was dozing. There was something wrong with Jack now; there was something sinister about his persona now. Nick didn�t like it one bit, it was probably better if he split away from Jack from now on, so he thought. Nick called up to Lucy to let down the ladder. She crawled onto her hands and knees and glanced over the edge of the platform to check if it really was Nick. Lucy smiled sweetly when she saw his face and was somewhat bemused by the two bags he was carrying � what was in them, she thought. The ladder screeched against the metal edge to the platform and clanged when it touched the ground. Nick climbed up and quickly pulled it back up. The pair disappeared from view of the others behind a collection of boxes and hanging sheets that Lucy had fashioned over the past few days to gain some form of privacy. �Have a good shopping trip?� asked Lucy with a little laugh. �Yeah it was okay.� �What were the other�s up to?� �I dunno, I kept out of their way and picked my own store to shop in. They�re a pretty rough lot when they�re out in the open,� replied Nick. �Really?� �Well, not so much today, there wasn�t really much of a threat from those zombies, they seemed pretty dulled down today. Maybe it�s rot setting in to the brain or something?� �Hope so, then maybe we can get things back to normal around here.� �Me too.� �So anyway, what did you get?� asked Lucy. Nick smiled at her and began rummaging around the bags. �Well, what did you get, come on, come on!� said Lucy like an excited child on Christmas Day. �Hold on a second,� laughed Nick. He began to pull out some examples of the food he�d gathered in the larger bag. Bottles of water, dried goods and some snacks made up the majority of the bag, with just a few other food items dotted around the haul. �So what�s in the other bag?� �Wouldn�t you like to know,� grinned Nick, teasing Lucy. �Oh come on! Please show me!� �Oh, all right then, but keep this stuff up here and to ourselves okay?� �Okay,� she smiled. Nick reached over to the second, but slightly smaller bag. He unzipped it slowly, creating as much tension and excitement as he could to waken up Lucy who had been dozing all day so far, but she deserved to, before he had gotten there she had to stay awake most of the night to keep the savage white collars at bay. �Well, it�s not much, but it�s something anyway,� he said as he started pulling out the items inside. �Oh wow,� she said with a huge smile on her face. �This is great!� Nick smiled; it�s always nice to know you�ve pleased someone. Lucy searched through the rest of the bag, pulling out clean underwear, toiletries and other luxuries, she was ecstatic. �Nick, this is great!� she said as she threw her arms around him, almost pulling him down on to the bed with the force. �Well, that�s not all,� he smiled. �More?� �Uh huh.� Lucy�s smile grew even bigger. Nick sat down in front of Lucy and began to fiddle around in his pocket. First of all he slowly pulled the necklace out and dangled it in front of her joy-filled face. He handed it over to her as he eyes glazed over, she�d never seen anything so beautiful in what seemed to be ages. �Oh Nick, this is beautiful.� Lucy turned around and lifted up her, for now at least, tangled hair so that Nick could fasten the necklace around her. He did so and she turned back to face him. She played with it in her hands for a moment, mesmerised by it, her mouth wide open and her mouth just as much. �Now I�ve got one last present here,� he said as he fished it out of his pocket. �More?� �It�s just a little something, you know, just a little thing, it�s nothing really�� Nick pulled the set of �forever� rings and placed them in his hand. �One�s for you and I wear the other one. It�s just so wherever we are, we�re never apart, just a stupid little thing you know�� Lucy�s smile grew yet wider as her eyes began to tear up. Her breathing became more erratic as she�d never known anybody to anything so sweet for her before. �Nick, I, I�� she stuttered. �This is incredible, I�� �Don�t say anything, just a little something I thought you might like.� �Like? I love it!� She sat up again and threw her arms around Nick; this time pulled him down to the bed where she kissed him tenderly, stroking his tired face with her soft hands and pulling him in closer, feeling the most at ease she�d ever felt in her life. They pulled back a little to look into each other�s eyes so they could examine each other deeply. Nick pulled a few strands of tangled hair from Lucy�s face so he could see her clearly. The pair smiled. �I love you so much,� said Nick softly. Their eyes remained locked on each other, Lucy�s continued to quiver with tears. �I love you,� she whispered. * * * * * The following day was unlike the others beforehand. The sky was overcast and rain pattered at the grimy windows of the gang�s building, brewing a dull hiss that flowed over the natural hum of the group. Nick and Lucy were still fast asleep when Jack and some of the other members of the gang decided to make a trip outside and visit one of the larger residential buildings in the city. Several times some of the group could have sworn they saw shadows moving past the windows and curtains twitching as if someone was peering out through them. Maybe there were more survivors still in the city, they thought. It was possible that the building they had targeted for that day�s raid was inhabited. The lower windows were blocked, doors were locked on the ground floor and the fire escape ladders had all been pulled back up or hacked off so that it would make it harder for raiders to get inside. It wasn�t a big score, but it was something to do nevertheless. Jack clambered inside the van being used for that day�s activities. He sat high and proud in the passenger seat next to the driver as the others climbed in the back, readying their firearms they had stolen a few days beforehand � their new toys that they wanted to try out. The engine roared into action and a deep chugging bounced around the engine as the van rolled up to the chain link fencing. Jack had to hop out, open the gate, allow the van through and lock up without getting bitten by the few zombies staggering around outside. But cover came from those inside the purring transport, those in the back of the van popping off a few shots as they howled with glee. As Jack locked up and ran back to the van, the driver revved the engine hard, popping it into gear and was setting off before Jack was comfortable in his seat. The tyres squealed as black marks were burning into the cracked tarmac of the road leaving their residency and several confused zombies behind. �So how many do you think are in there?� said Jack as he ducked his head slightly to view the roof of their target as they approached. �If there are any people in there, I dunno, there could be dozens,� replied the driver. �So plenty of carnita�s eh?� dribbled one of the men crouched in the back of the van. �Plenty of opportunities gentlemen, plenty,� grinned the driver showing off his blackening teeth, pushing his bad breath around his vicinity. The van came to a halt outside the front door to the building. Jack rolled down his window and poked his head out to take a look. Everything seemed pretty secure. �We�d better try around back, we�ll alert less of those things too.� �Good thinking junior,� nodded the driver as he pulled the vehicle away from the curb. The side alleyway was dark and dank. The sun was hidden away by the surrounding buildings and broken pipes let mini-waterfalls of grey water pour from the rooftops down to the muddy underfoot where the small band of men padded around like lions eyeing up the prize. �How the hell do we get inside here then?� grumbled one man. �Yeah! This door�s blocked too! Good thinking kid!� �Don�t worry guys, it�s simple,� replied Jack. �Oh yeah, and how�s that then Einstein?� �Well Cle-tus, we go in through that broken window up there!� snapped Jack with a snide tone. The group craned their necks so that they could see the window in question. It was indeed broken, the glass was gone and the wooden frame was cracked or falling out of the surrounding brickwork. �Kid�s always gotta plan,� smiled the driver. �It�s settled, we go through there.� �Good, good,� nodded Jack as he checked down the alleyway, just in case there were any curious zombies who had stumbled across them. But they were still safe. �Okay, so we go through there, but it�s on the first floor! We�re not exactly ten feet tall ya dumbass!� �I know, that�s why we drive the van underneath the window, clamber on top and we�re in, and keep your voice down for Christ�s sake. If there are any people in there and they hear us out here, they�re gonna get prepared and blow our asses off no doubt!� concluded Jack. The driver let out a little laugh as he hopped over to the van, popping it into gear and driving it forward to their position. �Clamber on boys, we�ve got a whole day ahead of us,� he said. Jack was first to climb aboard so that he could check out his entrance route first. The coast was clear and their way in led them down a dank corridor. The window had been broken as it was for quite some time it seemed, the rain having gotten in and soaked the walls and carpet over time. But apart from that, the building was still a fairly respectable apartment building. Jack climbed inside and signalled to the others to follow. The small group proceeded slowly down the corridor, checking it out to see what was what, but it appeared as if everything was quiet. �We should split up,� suggested Jack. The group came to a halt and the several men glanced at each other. �Yeah,� said one man. �Yeah, yeah he�s right. We�ll cover more ground that way,� replied another. The group split up, some covering the floors above and below their position, the remaining few being left to cover the current floor. The building wasn�t exceptionally large, so Jack thought that if they were going to find any other people it would be soon. As he climbed up the main stairwell he listened closely just in case there were any rumblings coming from any of the rooms nearby, but so far the building was deserted. Maybe they had just been dreaming that there were people inside, thought Jack. The third floor was just as quiet, if anybody was home, they were being awful quiet about it � maybe they didn�t want to be discovered. Everybody knew that gangs meant trouble. Any survivors were hiding thought Jack, it was time to start hunting through the rooms. The first room revealed nothing, just someone�s past life, a lonely life. Top shelf magazines were scattered around the floor, one solitary recliner facing the battered television and a few meagre possessions throughout the rest of the apartment. The following few homes were all the same, but varied in content, unfortunately there was nothing of worth left. Other raiders might have been here first and cleaned the place out, or maybe if there was anybody home, the valuables had been hidden to deter gangs lurking longer than necessary? Eventually, Jack came to locked door. He tried to open it but it remained locked. At first he placed his ear against it to listen in. There had to be people in this room, why else would it be locked? None of the other rooms were. But Jack could hear nothing. He pulled away from the door and slowly reached into his pocket. Removing a crude lock picking kit, Jack jumbled a few other small trinkets back into his pocket. Down on one knee and gazing closely into the lock, Jack fumbled with the crude device, fidgeting with it almost randomly until by luck, the door clicked open. A large grin began to creep onto Jack�s face as he crept to the side of the door, pushing it open with his right hand and only peering in from the side. He wasn�t about to get ambushed by somebody on the other side like some idiot. He waited, but nothing happened, the coast seemed to be clear and it was safe to enter quietly. Checking one last time, Jack took a quick peek into the room before pulling a flick-knife from his jumbled pocket. Pulling the blade out, he held it out slightly in front of his face like people always do in the movies. Jack�s heart pounded, he had never broken into anywhere before, unless it was somebody�s locked in high school to play a prank on them. The room that he was immediately presented with was barren of all life. Furniture was scattered around the room and trendy items placed on all and every surface like in catalogue displays. Shaking his head at the consumerist lifestyle of the past resident, Jack stood upright and closed the door behind him, he wasn�t going to be surprised from behind either. The kitchen was empty and so was the bathroom, but there had been or was somebody living here. There were boxes and empty cans of food sprawled throughout the kitchen and the shower was trickling cold water. The spattering noise covered Jack�s occasional misplaced footstep or jacket scuffing the wall. There was only one room left to check now, the bedroom. The door was closed and again everything seemed quiet. Jack waited a moment, thinking of how to enter. Sudden or quietly? If somebody were inside asleep, any way would work, but if somebody was waiting for him, there was only one way. He decided to burst in and take his chances. Jack stepped back a few paces and readied his left shoulder so that it was square to the door, his knife gripped tightly in his right hand. He charged at the door and it burst open quickly. As he flew in, he headed straight for the bed in front of him and fell onto it. He quickly leapt up again and glanced around the room, no threat was in sight. He sighed, it had all been a waste of time, so he proceeded to leave the room to go and search the rest of the floor. As he exited the bedroom door and began to walk down the hallway, he suddenly caught a slight muffled sound. He turned around and looked back at the bedroom. The trickling water from the shower continued to spatter in the background while Jack entered the bedroom again. He looked around thinking of where the noise he thought he heard may have come from. The closet? Pulling the double doors open sharply, Jack revealed the contents of the closet. Several moth eaten outfits and a few pairs of shoes were all he found and so he stepped back to glance around the room once again. There was nothing in sight that could hold anybody. Drawer units, small storage units, all too small or incapable of holding anybody. Jack thought for a moment � underneath the bed. �Found you,� he whispered to himself. Slowly and quietly descending to the floor of the bedroom, only the noise of the dripping shower and the others tearing up the building in the floors below him could be heard. Lifting up the skirting of the bed sheets, Jack caught sight of a girl staring back at him, her hair tangled and covering half her face as she shook in fear. Without a second�s thought, Jack reached in and pulled the girl out by the arm and pushed her onto the bed. She bounced as she landed before sitting upright to look back at her finder. Jack stood there and looked at her young face, she must have been sixteen or maybe a little younger than that. She shook as she was eyed up and down. Jack thought to himself for a moment. He could do anything he wanted to in this world, anything, and not get caught. The ways of the gang had seeped into him by now and he didn�t feel guilty or wrong as he stepped towards her and pushed her over. * * * * * The building was quiet with only a few members of the gang stirring after a heavy night�s sleep on once again a rough surface. Slowly, the usual coughs and splutters erupted into the quiet atmosphere, causing more to wake. From their elevated position, Nick and Lucy were disconnected from the rest, but they could still hear everything and were they beginning to awaken as well. It was past noon and small shards of sunlight were poking through the dark skies, illuminating the musty innards of the gang�s headquarters. As Nick coughed and cleared his throat, he rubbed his eyes, poking his head up to see what everybody else was doing. But he looked confused, where were some of the others? Where was Jack? �Where the hell are they?� he muttered as he rolled over onto his hands and knees. Slowly sitting upright, Nick cracked his neck and back to relieve the pain of sleeping on the hard surface. �You must be getting old,� smiled Lucy as her eyes remaining glued shut. Nick laughed as he groaned and gasped. He found it hard enough to get up in the morning beforehand, but nowadays it was even harder. These days you woke up to dulled, wheezing moans of the undead and an eerie silence cast over a city that was once bustling. He couldn�t quite accept it yet, but he was getting there and he realised he couldn�t turn the clock back. One final rotation of the torso made Nick�s lower spine grind and crack loudly, freeing him up for the rest of the day. �Oh that is heaven,� he sighed. �You�re easily pleased,� smirked Lucy as she struggled to sit upright. �Well that�s good news for you then isn�t it.� Lucy took a moment to get the joke. �Hey!� she said before slapping Nick playfully on the shoulder. �Um, ouch!� �Oh come on, you�re a tough guy.� �Well yeah, this is true�� Nick stood up and began to flex his teenage torso in front of Lucy, stretching in all manners of poses that bodybuilders used to show off every muscle. �Well, you�re no Mr Universe�� Nick glanced at Lucy. �But you�re more than enough for me,� she smiled, stretching out her hand to guide Nick back to bed. Nick complied and quickly lay back down beside her so that she could rest her head on his chest. Her head bobbed up and down slowly as Nick breathed in and out, the rhythm was hypnotic and in mere moments, the pair was fast asleep again. * * * * * The apartment building had been searched from top to bottom and only a handful of survivors had been discovered. Throughout Jack�s absence, the few survivors hiding set upon the other men, but the battle had been short and throughout the gunshots and screams, Jack continued to fall victim to the gang�s ways. �How you doing?� asked one of the driver. �Oh just peachy,� spluttered one man. �Yeah, ditto,� coughed the other beside him. During the battle, two of the gang had been caught amongst the crossfire and were finally suffering their fate. �Well, you guys are fucked,� continued the driver. �Yep, that you are,� added the man beside the driver. A gang was not a place where you went to for comfort or understanding. You were just associates looking for the riches of society passed by, if one member died, nobody cared. �Well, do you wanna hang around here and end up like one of them things?� asked the driver. �Or do you want me to end it quick?� The two dying men glanced at each other and then back at their two healthy counterparts. They nodded. �So it is then,� said the driver as he pulled a pistol out from the back of his trousers. He pulled back the hammer, aimed and fired two shots, one for each head. �There, that�s that done. Now where the hell did that kid get to?� said the driver unsympathetically while he wandered up the nearby stairs, leaving a floor of death behind. They had found survivors and they had killed them all and even lost two of their own in the process, but they didn�t care one bit. It was a means to an end, an end that they all wanted � to just finally die and not have to live in this world anymore. They were just enjoying the ride, taking as many perks as possible before their time was up. �Hey! Jack, where the hell are ya?� bellowed the driver. He and his sidekick of sorts continued to climb the set of stairs until they came to the floor on which Jack had been sent to explore. They glanced up and down the corridor, all the doors open except for one. �There.� The two men swaggered over to the only closed door. Like Jack had done, they listened carefully for a moment before entering. As they looked around the apartment they could hear muffled noises coming from the bedroom, so naturally they went in search of what was causing those noises, readying their firearms just in case there were more gung-ho survivors inside. They kicked the door open quickly, startling Jack who turned around in shock. �Oh it�s you guys.� The two men looked on, they didn�t quite know what to make of it, but Jack had finally joined their ranks. �Well. Are you going to get the fuck out or not?� shouted Jack. �Having fun there kid?� �I�m almost done here, you can have her after, now get the fuck out already!� The men complied and left Jack to his business, leaving muffled pleas and their conscience long behind. * * * * * It was mid-afternoon when Nick awoke again and struggled to sit upright. Again he stared around the immediate area, but still there was no sign of Jack. He then glanced down to Lucy�s side of the bed, but she was gone. Noticing the ladder was down, he presumed she was getting food or was just walking around. As Nick crawled over to the ladder, he looked again, but there was definitely no sign of Jack. �Hey, you seen Jack?� �Gone,� muttered a hunched over gang member. �Gone? Gone where?� �Gone hunting.� �What for?� �Went to that apartment place downtown.� �They did? Why?� �I said kid, hunting, trying to see if there�s anybody there you know.� �No I don�t know. What do you mean?� �Kid, if you�d been stuffed in here for this long, wouldn�t you be wanting to find some other people?� Nick thought for a moment and suddenly horrific images and ideas drifted into his mind. No. Surely Jack hadn�t gone there with some of the others? �Downtown you said?� �That�s right kid, what are ya, deaf?� The man went back to burying his head between his knees to keep himself warm in the drafty building. �Shit,� muttered Nick as he landed on the ground and went in search of Lucy. As he exited their living area and proceeded down the corridor, he called out her name, but received no answer. He did so again and again, but still no answer as he continued to walk. Suddenly he heard thundering footsteps coming down the spiral staircase nearby. As Nick looked over to where the noise was coming from, he could see the disgruntled face of the gang�s leader. The leader wasn�t that special, no stronger or wiser than any of the others. �Have you seen Jack?� �What you saying kid?� �Have you seen Jack?� �No I have not seen that punk kid, he should be around here somewhere, go look for him, what are ya blind?� �I asked around and they said he went downtown with some of the others.� �What?� asked the leader. �They went downtown to that apartment complex that they�ve been talking about, thought there were some survivors there or something.� The leader paused for a moment. �Assholes!� he growled as he thundered off in the direction of the parking lot. His men had gone against his word. The leader had said that they were not to go there without him or his orders. But obviously the few who had gone didn�t want the leader taking all the riches they might have found. As Nick called out Lucy�s name once again, he saw the leader exit the building via the door at the end of the corridor, which slammed behind him. The roar of one of the van�s engines soon followed with the squealing of tyres not far behind. �Hey, have you seen Lucy?� A man exited the toilets, his face flushed with anger and pain as he gripped his crotch. He teetered from side to side and growled at Nick while passing him by. �Lucy!� gasped Nick as he dashed over to the toilet door. Bursting in, he was greeted with the sight of Lucy, weeping in a huddled mess on the floor. Her tangled hair was strewn across her face and she shook madly, grunting and gasping through her teeth. �Lucy! Are you alright?� said Nick, his heart sinking as he crouched down beside her, placing his hand on her shoulder. �Get away!� she squealed as she lashed out with the knife she had always kept on her person. Her eyes were wild and bloodshot with fear, but as soon as she saw Nick�s face, her mouth dropped, the knife fell from her hand and she lunged into his arms. Holding herself tighter to him than she had ever done before, she trembled. �What the hell happened?� asked Nick who glanced down at a blood stained knife. �It was him outside wasn�t it? What did he do to you?� Lucy continued to weep, but Nick pushed her back to see her face and lock with her eyes. �What happened? What did he do to you?� �I�I�I stopped�hi�him,� stammered Lucy. �Stopped him? What was he going to do to you?� �Same thing as Ja�Jack�s doing n�now.� Nick paused for a moment and returned to the horrible thoughts once more. �Scum-sucking piece of shit�� growled Nick. �What are you going to�to do?� As he placed the bloody knife back in Lucy�s hand, he kissed her on the forehead before dashing out the door. �Lock this door.� Nick disappeared down the corridor and Lucy complied, slowly crawling to the door to slam it shut. �Where the fuck are you?� Nick roared. Tearing the walls down with his savage scream, Nick burst into the main living area and glared at each and every face until he finally locked eyes with the man he had passed outside the toilets minutes beforehand. Without a second�s thought, Nick ran over, grabbing a steel pipe as he did so from a cluttered table before pulling the coughing and spluttering man. Holding the pipe inches from the gang member�s head, Nick shook the man by the collar, crushed his crotch with his knee and pushed the snivelling specimen back against the wall. �What the fuck did you do?� �Nu�nothing�� gasped the guilty party. �Don�t give me that shit, what were you doing?� �Honest man, nothing!� Stepped over to him, Nick brought the steel pipe crashing down into the man�s arm with such force that it was impossible to see coming. The pipe thrashed into the flesh and an angry crack sounded out. Screaming in agony, the man wobbled and slid to the floor against the wall so that he was now looking up at Nick�s crazed eyes. They were deep and blackened now so it seemed, but all the man could see through the blinding pain was the shadow of the pipe rise up high and then come crashing down again and again and again against his body. The sound of metal against soft flesh thudded while snapping and cracking bones made the surrounding audience cringe, wince and look away. Despite being in a media-stated �vicious gang�, the lot of them had never seen such violence for the most part, but they were all far from innocent. �Don�t�fucking�lie�to�me!� bellowed Nick as he made one last hit to the man�s stomach. Lying in a pulped mess on the floor, the man coughed and spattered blood into his hands. �Okay, okay�� mouthed the man. �What? What did you do?� The man continued to roll on the floor in agony. �What did you do?� growled Nick as he sent his adrenaline thrust his foot into the guilty party�s stomach. �It�s pretty�fucking ob�obvious! I wanted that�that bitch!� he stammered. �Say goodnight creep.� Nick thrust the steel pipe into the air and left it come roaring down once, then twice and then three times into the head of his victim, the blood spurting from the growing wounds as more and more hits ensued. The blood spattered Nick�s face, clothes and adrenaline-filled hands. The bone snapping and dull thuds continued for another minute before Nick finally stepped back, his anger now waning one iota to let him stop for a moment. The man was dead, he was dead after the first few blows of the furious onslaught and now his body hung limply in a tangled heap on the blood smeared floor. The wounds were large and bloody, his face crippled and remade into a hideous sight. �Stay away, all of you�stay away�� Nick slurred, stepped back with slow steps, dragging blood across the floor. �Stay away.� Heading back to the toilets where Lucy still hid shaking, he lowered his head to look at his bloody hands, clothes and dripping pipe. �Lucy, it�s me, it�s Nick. Open the door.� For a moment nothing happened. Lucy sat inside and Nick stood outside like he was a scarecrow, hunched over and emotionless. �It�s okay now Lucy. He�s not going to bother you again, open the door please.� Slowly, the lock turned and the door opened. Lucy revealed her shattered partner just before he collapsed inside, his body crashing heavily to the floor. �Nick!� she shouted in fear that he had been hurt. She ran her hands all over him twice, but could find no wounds, she sighed in relief, but she continued to tremble. Nick�s eyes seemed dead and unyielding as he lay face down on the tiled floor, his mouth ajar and twitching � his entire face looking like he�d seen a ghost. Lucy grabbed hold of Nick and pulled him up slightly so that his head rested in her arms. The two of them now destroyed and shaking together. �We�ve gotta get outta here,� whispered Nick. �How? How can we get out of here?� �We�ll take one of the vans, take it and just get the hell out of this place. Run, just keep running�� �But how can we? The leader is always watching us, we can�t just get away unnoticed!� �He�s gone to get Jack and the others downtown. He won�t be back for at least an hour, he was furious. There�s one van left at least, I know that for sure. We�ll take that and get out of here.� �But what about food? What about water? What are we going to do to survive?� �We�ll take some supplies. We can take the stuff we�ve already got from our bit, we�ll just look like we�re moving somewhere else, relocating to another bit somewhere else in the building. As far as they�re concerned we�re moving away from the body�� �Body?� �He�s dead Lucy, the son of a bitch is dead.� Lucy took a deep breath. �But won�t they question us?� �Not after that, not after that. They won�t say anything or keep their eyes away from us. They don�t wanna get involved, definitely not now.� Nick pulled himself up, taking a deep breath to reorganise his head. �Come on, we�ve gotta act fast, we can�t stop for one minute. We�ll get the van loaded up and we�ll get outta here.� �What about the others? When the leader comes back they�re gonna come after us won�t they?� �Even if they do, we�ll be long gone, but only if we get going now! Come on!� Nick stood up and pulled Lucy with him before dragging her out of the tiled room and down the corridor, back to their home, their area of a cold and filthy building. �You get the things lighter things and I�ll grab the food and water.� Lucy nodded and quickly darted up the ladder and began to gather things as Nick hoisted food and water into the bags he had used when he went out scavenging. �Wait and minute, what about weapons?� Nick paused. �We�ll steal a couple of those too.� �From where?� �Upstairs. There�s guns and ammo just lying around there. I saw when you took me up to the roof before.� Lucy smiled, the plan was hastily constructed, but it was coming together. They were finally getting some luck. * * * * * �You made sure she was dead right?� said Jack. �Yeah, yeah, I made sure,� replied the driver as the remaining trio walked through the apartment building. They came to the window through which they entered. The driver was first out, followed by Jack and then the last man crept out. They landed on the roof of the van, denting it where their feet came to rest. Several zombies were now clawing at the sides of the van, rocking it from side to side slowly. Their howls were slurred, their eyes glazed, but their determination to get a meal never waning. �Shit!� grumbled Jack. �You got that right kid,� said the driver. �Well, shoot them!� The third man fell to his hands and knees as the van bucked and rocked on its suspension leaving Jack and the driver wrestling with their balance. �Shoot them already!� shouted Jack desperately. �Calm down kid, I�m on it, I�m on it!� The driver pulled a pistol from the back of his trousers and aimed shakily at one of the few zombies in front of him. He pulled the trigger, but the bullet missed the head and instead caught the walking corpse in the throat. As it stumbled back, its wheezing groan turned into a distressed gargle as thickening brown blood squirted onto the ground. In its place, three more zombies filled the gap having been attracted from the street at the end of the alleyway by all the noise. �There�s more of them coming!� cried the third man as he lay on his belly, arms and legs outstretched � desperately trying to hold on. Jack and the driver turned to look down the alleyway. Another four cadavers shuffled off the streets and entered the gloom, growling as they did so. Suddenly the van bucked violently again. Jack and the driver descended to their knees and gripped the edge of the van�s roof to stay stable. The van bucked again and then again as more lobotomised post-humans entered the fray. �Shit! Help me!� yelped the third man as he slid from the roof and disappeared into the darkness of the alleyway. Jack turned around just in time to catch sight of an outstretched hand disappear from view. Then the screaming started and the van was left alone, a new meal creating enough distraction to guide the walking cadavers away from the passenger door. �There! We can get in through the passenger side!� screamed the driver. Jack glanced over the edge, the zombies were staggering around to the other side where fresh meat was being torn apart. �Quick!� he shouted. The driver slid off the roof and landed awkwardly on his feet. �Shit!� he groaned as he clutched his ankle. �Fuck!� �Get inside! Get inside!� ordered Jack as he too jumped down, but this time with caution. Pulling the door open sharply, Jack pulled the driver in after him. �Close the door damn it!� The grumbling driver complied and shuffled around in his seat as Jack turned the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life and alerted the attention of the zombies feasting just inches away from Jack. One of the howling creatures glanced up and caught sight of Jack in the side mirror looking back at the carnage and without a second�s thought, the monster lunged for the driver�s side door and began tugging on the handle. Jack glanced over as the door was pulled open and he was presented with the rotting face of the enemy. Its eyes were wide and full of excitement, yet still dead to the world. Most of the creature�s teeth were missing, presumably broken off when chewing on bones to knocked out when falling over wherever it roamed. The monster grabbed hold of Jack�s arm and pulled it towards its drooped jaw, hissing as it did so. �Fuck! Fuck!� gasped Jack as his free arm ran across the body of the injured driver beside him. �Help me!� But before a bullet could tear through the festering grey matter of the beast, it managed to take a pound of flesh from Jack�s upper arm. Blood spurted from the gaping wound as several bullets flew past Jack�s screaming face. The driver�s door slammed shut and the van was forced into reverse. The engine wailed as the gas pedal was punched into the flooring. The tyres wailed and the scent of burning rubber slithered over the blood letting as Jack wrestled to keep the van straight. The end of the alleyway got closer and closer and suddenly the sunlight hit them again, but no sooner had it done so that the leader ran into the back of them. Both engines came to a choking halt, but the gang�s leader was quick to leap out, gun in hand, run over to the driver�s window and break it through. �This is what happens when you disobey me!� he roared, pushing the gun into Jack�s temple. �This is what happens when you do your own thing! This is what happens when you start taking things for yourself!� Jack wrestled with the leader�s wild gun hand as more blood seeped from his wound. His face was drained of colour and his eyes were sunken, his head swirling. Quickly Jack lost consciousness and collapsed over the steering wheel, exposing his friend�s form beside him who had his gun at the ready. �Drop it!� ordered the leader. �Not a chance bub. Not a chance.� �Do as I say or so help me God I�ll shoot you right now!� �Even if you do, what good will it do? There�s a dozen of those things down that alleyway and they�re already starting to stagger out! They�ll tear you apart!� �Well, I guess I had a good run while it lasted didn�t I?� smiled the leader. Suddenly, the leader pulled the trigger, blasting a hole in the neck of his minion who was quick to respond, firing off a shot that tore through his leader�s chest sending him staggering back, crashing to the tarmac. �You son of a�son of a bitch!� wailed the leader as he struggled to roll over. The zombies were beginning to gain on the scene, their arms outstretched, ready for their meal. �Come on then you brainless bastards! Come on then!� roared the leader, his form fallen from his thrown and his blood now running onto the street. He readied his gun and began firing desperately at the advancing group as they were joined by others surrounding the scene. In a pincer movement, the monsters closed in, bullets whistling past their heads and scraping their bodies. �Why won�t you die?� gurgled the leader. �Die!� * * * * * The gang�s headquarters was quiet. The leader was gone but not many knew as they had been asleep when he had left and those who had, didn�t care and just went about their daily routines � walking from room to room like mindless automatons, thinking of better times, the days when everybody wasn�t dead. Amidst the stillness, Lucy and Nick dashed about, clearing out their sleeping area, passing the dead body nearby without a second thought and quietly stocking one of the gang�s vans. �Careful now,� said Nick as he helped Lucy pull a box of dried and tinned food into the back of the vehicle. �What�s left to do?� asked Lucy softly as she glanced over to the rear exit of the building which led out into the parking area in which they both stood, surrounded by the living dead who tugged on the chain link fencing. �Just got to get some protection, and that�s it.� Lucy nodded; taking a sigh of relief as it was now nearly all over. Throughout the past weeks she had had to avoid confrontation, create a tough image and make it through another day in a world where the dead were no longer buried and left behind. Before Nick had come into her life, she had often thought about what else was out there, out in the other buildings. Were there any other survivors? But when Nick arrived, those thoughts didn�t matter anymore, they had been answered � there were other survivors. Nick took Lucy by the hand, pulled the rear van doors to and began to lead Lucy towards the rear door of the building. �Okay, you�re gonna wait here and keep an eye just in case anybody comes snooping. I�ll be able to hear you in the stairwell, so if somebody comes along and starts butting their nose in, keep them occupied with some excuses or whatever. Just make it long enough that I can gather the necessary.� �Okay,� whispered Lucy nervously as Nick left her behind and began to climb the stairwell. Just in case a curious gang member did show up, Lucy pulled the rear closed so that they couldn�t see out to the van and maybe cotton on to their plan. A quick glance up the stairwell revealed Nick approaching the leader�s floor, but everything seemed okay, it was quiet. To conceal her nerves, Lucy wrapped her arms around herself and leant against the wall next to the steps so that she could both look up to where Nick was and down the corridor in front of her. �How you doing up there?� she whispered. Nick appeared over the railing. �Fine, just give me a couple more minutes.� Lucy nodded and glanced back down the hallway, the dim lights creating a dull fuzziness in the air, like the air was no longer transparent, but just ever so visible. Suddenly a figure appeared at the other end of the corridor. They came around the corner and continued to walk towards her, uninterested in what she was doing. The figure came nearer and nearer, but suddenly made a quick right turn into the toilets and disappeared from sight. Lucy sighed in relief. �Hurry it up, please,� she quietly pleaded with Nick. �Just one more second,� he replied as the scuffed noise of bags on the dusty floor sounded out. Walking up a couple of the steps, Lucy glanced up to see what Nick was doing. She could make out his back turned to her, his shoulders moving in and out, back and forth as he placed weapons and ammo into a bag nearby on the landing. The toilet door opened again, making Lucy jump. She quickly dropped down to the ground again and resumed her pose, but the figure didn�t take any notice of her and proceeded to walk back up the corridor and turn back into the main living area. Again, Lucy sighed with relief. �Okay, I�m coming,� said Nick as he hoisted the heavy bag onto his shoulder. His footsteps were heavier and less graceful this time as he wrestled with the bag load. �Quiet!� mouthed Lucy to him as he looked down at her. �We probably won�t need half of these, but it�s always better to be safe than sorry.� �Alright, alright. Come on, come on, hurry.� �Take it easy, we�re home free. Now go on, get out to the van and get her ready to go. I�m gonna have to open the gates so we can get out.� �But there�s God knows how many of those things wandering out on the streets!� �Well there�s no other way to open the fences and there is no way I�m gonna risk either of our lives anyway. I�ll be quick and careful, just be ready to move the van alright?� Lucy nodded and dashed out to the van, clambered inside and checked the keys were in the ignition. She sighed again, pleading with God that Nick wouldn�t get hurt, pleading that they�d make it out of there alive, just pleading. Nick closed the door firmly behind him and made a quick scuttled jog over to the van. He through the bag inside the van and pushed the door closed, but not shut so that he could easily get back in when he needed to. �I don�t even know how to use these things,� he laughed. �But I�ll figure it out.� Lucy smiled for a moment, but then glanced over to the gate. �What about the gate? How are we gonna do this thing? What if they hear us inside?� �We�ll do it quick. When I get over to the fence and am ready to open it up, you fire up the van and drive over. I�ll jump in and you put your foot down and we get the hell out of here, okay?� Lucy nodded and closed her eyes for another quick �please God� before letting Nick dart over to the gate. She watched him closely as he reached the gate and readied himself to undo the latch which was still unlocked from when the leader had torn off in search of Jack and the others, he obviously didn�t care much for his flock. Nick looked at Lucy as the zombies on the other side of the fence began to pull and tug more violently � their meal just inches away from them. He nodded. The engine spluttered and rumbled into life and Lucy hastily put her into drive. She eased the van near to Nick and paused, her foot still firmly placed over the accelerator. �Alright you bastards, there�s a meal inside for you!� grunted Nick as he pulled the latch away and hoisted the gates open. The first line of zombies leaning against the gate fell to the floor, their faces crunching on the concrete as they fell while those behind and to the sides began to lurch forward, entering the compound. Dashing back, Nick leapt into the van and slammed his door shut, pushing down the lock and rolling up his window. The zombies converged on the van and began clawing at the hood and the windows. �Go!� roared Nick. Lucy didn�t need to be told twice. She slammed her foot into the accelerator and the engine squealed as they pulled away leaving the dead surrounding them staggering back. �What the hell!� screamed a disgruntled gang member as he burst out into the parking area. The van jumped onto the road and roared off leaving the man standing amidst a feast with him as the main course. The walking corpses turned and fixed their dead eyes on the man as his jaw dropped to the floor. He wailed in fear as he began to stagger backwards, but the dead lurched forward suddenly and scratched and clawed at his clothes and flesh. �Help me! Help me!� he roared. The rear door opened and two other gang members leapt out into the fray, trying to pull their fallen comrade back inside, but succumbing to the rotting wrath amidst fountains of blood and flesh eating monsters. As the excitement attracted the attention of the rest of the gang inside, the zombies began to flood in off the streets, all converging on their first meal in at least days, possibly even weeks. They rushed in through the back door and flooded the living areas, clambering the steps to gain access to the higher levels, taking over the entire building in minutes as terrified men screamed while being torn apart. Another survivor stronghold had fallen and suddenly Serenity Falls was just that little bit deader. �Where are we going?� asked Lucy as she glanced down at the gauge denoting how much gas they had left. �How much we got?� �Just over half,� she replied. �Good enough. Anywhere, anywhere but here,� Nick said as he watched the city disappear bit by bit in the side mirror. �Anywhere but here.� The van growled like an angry predator, drawing the attention of shambling corpses to left and right and up ahead. They left Serenity Falls behind once and for all, the pair of them smiling slightly as they crossed the city limits where a sign stood denoting �Serenity Falls � The Maine Place To Be.� |